Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-11-19
HUMAN LIFE.
BY REV. j. REID SHANNON.

He said: Human life is a tangled
skein. Life with its Affections and
troubles makes up a problem that is
the supreme mystery of the ages-a
problem whose solution must be adj
journed to the day of eternity. Here
we come face to face with locks that
we have no key to fit. Here we voy-
age upon waters that we have no
plummet to fathom. God never in
tended that our life in this world
should. be one of song and music
one of tropical bloom and verdue.
The divine order of things is such
that the threads of trouble run
through the warp and wool of every
life. Sooner or later, above every one
wave +" the oaks of weeping" We
start out in this world expecting to
cross the Jordan and enter the Ca
naan that is full of trailing vines and
rich pasture-lands and beautiful olive
fields, but like Moses of old we die
on this side of the Jordan, viewing
from the Mount Nebo of disappoint-
ment the Canaan of our hopes from
afar. True it is that our life has its
days of rosy dawn and golden noon
time and gorgeous sunset. But a
change comes, and the serene blue of
summer hours merges into the cold
gray sky of wintry days. The birds
are songless, and life seems like a gar
den of blighted flowers. God intends
that these changes from the bright to
the dark side of life Shall be to us full
of everlasting benediction. The sea-
sons of nature are made fruitful and
healthful by having the fair weather
interrupted by foul weather. 1t is
the going down of the sun and the
on-coming of the night of darkness
that unvail to us countless worlds of
brightness. AS in nature so in our
life. Were we never overshadOWed
by trouble what a charm would we
} find in this world. 1t would be to
us as a land flowing with milk and
honey. How sweet and fragrant
would be its flowers! How bright
and radiant would be its rainbows !
We would want to build our taberna-
cles on earth and remain here, and
l like the Vienna nobleman of whom
Luther speaks, we would say, II
God will only give me this world to
enjoy He cal keep heaven to him.
SELF" 1t takes more grace to bear
: prosperity and be true to ones soul
: than it takes to bear up under adver-
sity.
When a man is living in the tropics
of perpetual sunshine it takes a great
4 deal of divine grace to keep him from
t forgetting the God above him and
the immortality beyond him. AS
Bunyan's pilgrim in the Arbor Of
Ease lost the roll out of his bosom, sc
: has it been with many a professed
Christian in the arbor of prosperity
e In the troubles and misfortunes tha|
n come to people there is a voice that
says: "Arise and depart for this is
t not your rest" Many there be who
! enter the Promised Land of surren'
/ der to God only after they have cross
a ed the desert of some great affiction
g God gets possession of many hearts
T only when they have been broken by
y trouble. AS what are called ''foul
: o'clocks" bloom only when the SUI
o is going down, so many people bloom
e spiritually only when thesun of theil
s earthly hopes has gone down below
/ the hOriU H.. Upon the dusty
graves of sepulchered hopes have
n bloomed flowers of immortal fra
GRANGE. The royal Kohinoor annie
the jewels of Gods promises is 'tha
e all things shall work together for on
good if we love Cod" Then all ap
y parent universities will carry beneath
'e their surface everlasting prosperity
, Then every wind that strikes us il
g this life will be a south wind, havini
8 in its bosom eternal warmth an,
q sweetness and blessing.